OSM Aviation Academy aiming for U.S. takeoff

We are excited to announce our plans to open new flight academies in the United States to educate and train ‘airline-ready pilots’. Norway’s former Minister of Transport and Communication who now moves to the US, will be heading up the initiative.

Pilot shortage is a pressing issue in international aviation as the demand for air traffic continues to grow and the war for talents gets tougher. Forecasts show that the air traffic demand over the next 15 years requires 620 000 new pilots on a global basis, making competent personnel a scarce resource.

According to Espen Høiby, CEO of OSM Aviation, having access to competent personnel is key and essentially the differencing success factor in the industry.

“Most people growing up today are faced with limitless career opportunities leading to a war for talents between industries. In order to win this battle, it is not enough to just offer an attractive education, one also needs to provide a career-path”, Høiby says.

Together with Norway’s former Minister of Transport and Communication, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, he is now taking OSM Aviation’s own flight academy to the United States.

Airline-ready pilots

“Our professional and integrated flight training program through OSM Aviation Academy offers dedicated candidates the possibility of getting all licenses and ratings needed to work as a commercial pilot in just 20 months. We call the concept “arline-ready pilots”. Already on the onset of our training program, we offer every candidate a job within OSM Aviation, -a win-win situation for both us and our candidates”, Høiby says.

Ketil Solvik-Olsen who was a cabinet member in Norway until 31 of August this year, will be responsible for the establishment of OSM Aviation Academy in USA.

“Aviation brings the world together, and this is an exciting opportunity to develop the industry further. We aim at having new OSM Aviation flight academies up and running within two years, and more may come. After all, USA is the land of opportunities”, he says.

OSM Aviation’s initiative in the US is part of a more comprehensive strategy, which involves building an international network of flight academies to serve the aviation industry. OSM Aviation recently appointed Bjørn Granviken to the post as Managing Director for the OSM Aviation Academy.

Granviken has an extensive background in the transport and aviation industries, where he has held several board and top management positions. These include service with the Royal Norwegian Air Force and senior vice president flight operations for the airline SAS and most recently CEO at Sporveien T banen AS before joining OSM Aviation in winter/spring of 2019.